


out

by Liryczna



Category: Shards of the Sun
Genre: Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Family, Friendship, Gen, M/M, at this point both me and Fyr are ready to drag Nil back from hell if anything happens to him, but this hell is one nobody can help him from more than that
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-01
Updated: 2017-03-01
Packaged: 2018-09-27 18:59:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 642
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10040165
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Liryczna/pseuds/Liryczna
Summary: As much as he wished for it never to happen, it is a miracle it took him so long.





	

There is a knock at their door late at night, and Steffit gets out of bed worried, uneasiness growing with his every step. Gin is sleeping, emotional exhaustion not letting her go, and Steffit does not wake her up. When he sees Ivia at the doorstep, her hair a complete mess, the two humans behind her clearly worried and sleepy as well, he already knows.

  
Nil went out again and did not come back.

  
As much as he wished for it never to happen, it is a miracle it took him so long.

 

 

They go with him, the Prince and the Guard, claiming to want to go on an evening stroll. It is a lie, Steffit knows, sees how stiff Oswald is, how Albany scans everything around them. Arguments are useless against idiots so he lets them come, right after they tell Leo of all people to take care of Steffit's granddaughter, or maybe the other way around. It is plain to see that they are worried about Nil, about him, and it does not help anything. It is still better to have them behind his back as they walk through the shadows of the underside on the other side of the river.

 

 

Nil babbles, coherence coming and going, and Steffit is glad that Albany can lift his son with one hand and throw him over his shoulder as Oswald tries to talk his ear off. It is not right, this slow walk back, it never was, not even once. Steffit knows there are things he can choose and those he has to live with, and he would never choose differently if he could.

  
It is still reassuring to see others, who, he is certain, would do the same things he did. They are fools, all of them.

 

***

 

There is someone sitting by his bed when Nil wakes up, his entire being splitting into two with headache. He expects Steffit, maybe Gin coming to cut his head off, or Ivia disappointed and angry. It is none of them, and he only catches the blond locks and pale face before he has to close his eyes again. It is bad enough that he does not want to get up, not now, perhaps not ever, nausea rising every time he moves his head. He is used to it, but it feels awful every time, so he tries not to move for as long as he can. Unexpectedly, there is water, and he is dying of thirst so he drinks the glass empty. Warm fingers snatch it out of his hands, lingering as Nil opens his eyes again, and then Leo folds himself back into the chair, feet on the seat, knees close to his chest. Nil hears the wood's soft protest, groan and then silence. He waits for a reprimand - there is none. Only the soft scratch of the nib on the parchment.

 

When he wakes for the second time, no longer feeling like he is dying, the chair is empty, but the parchment is left on the desk, and he half-crawls over his bed to see it. The guilt will come later, right now curiosity wins. His vision is swimming and he has to blink, rapidly, to finally focus on the image, and when he finally sees it, the drawing takes his breath away. With the serpent twisting among the waves in front of his eyes, Nil can almost feel the breeze on his face, the smell of the sea somehow present in his bedroom.

 

(It is Oswald's idea and Steffit does not protest, too tired to anything else but fall into his own bed. When they leave, sleepy Ivia in Albany's arms as he carries the girl into her own room, Oswald throws one last look back at Leo. He catches him, hovering, shaking fingers moving the rebellious hair from Nil's face.)


End file.
